As we enter the holiday season, with American Thanksgiving behind us, I thought I would take a moment and share a list of things I am most grateful for. I hope you will indulge me in doing this, and perhaps there is a lesson or two in some of these for many of the Monday Morning Mojo community.

1. First, I am thankful to many of you in this Monday Morning Mojo community who have read, commented and shared your own lessons on the various blogs I have posted. What started out as an exercise of bi-monthly writing, has helped me look for the good that life serves up versus the drumbeat of worrying news we consume daily.  Photo: A Kronick, Buttlar, Krassenstein and friends Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, minus yours truly who celebrated in Beijing this year.                
2. I am grateful to my late parents, Peter and Maxine Kronick, who not only provided a fantastic childhood, but also encouraged me to live overseas and broaden my worldview. I have had a wonderful ride so far, living half of my life in the US and the other half in Asia, and I am grateful to both of them for setting me on this path.
3. This past week I celebrated 27 years of marriage to a wonderful life partner. In our relationship, Lisa is one of those women who hold up three quarters of the sky, or maybe 99% of the sky, and I would literally be lost without her. We also celebrated my daughter Jacquelin’s 25^th birthday.  This young lady is funny, smart, a joy to be around, and I couldn’t have wished for a more loving daughter. Rounding out my immediate family is my son, Samuel, who has been my partner in sport, working from home, life advisor and investment consultant. This kid is a dream, and I am just grateful he still lets me on the basketball court with him.                                                                        .
4. I am grateful to my siblings and their families, my in-laws and Lisa’s family, and my limited number of cousins. The Wei-Kronicks are surrounded by many people who are caring, smart and interesting to be around, and I enjoy every moment we spend together.  Photo:  My siblings and extended family.                                                                  
5. I am most thankful to three remaining elders of the Kronick clan: Ricia Scarf, my only aunt and the matron of the Kronicks; Peggy Kronick, my benevolent stepmother who took such great care of my dad in his later years; and Gertrude Young, our surrogate mother, who taught us the way of the world. Photo:  Ricia Scharf and Peggy Kronick in Beijing.  Gertrude Young in Flint, Michigan.                                                               
6. A most important shout out is due for Tate Myre given this Thanksgiving week. Tate was the brave young man at the Oxford High School shooting in Detroit who risked his life this past week to save others. While the Monday Morning Mojo largely refrains from political discourse, this gun violence event and the thousands of others we hear about regularly worries me sick about the proliferation of guns in the United States.
7. I want to thank a former colleague of mine, Kathy Baird Westfall, who I worked with for years but only met in person once. Kathy is a Native American and broadened my views on her experiences growing up as a Native American in the United States. She shared this most meaningful post about Thanksgiving from another Native American that needs to be read by a larger audience.                                                       https://www.huffpost.com/entry/native-american-thanksgiving_n_5bf594b5e4b03b230f9df6ad?fbclid=IwAR1QW3MuKSibl_q6M7T8OBBoH4Pb9vVsGeRR-2l2pO8M7EfEYF3q4QWEk9U
8. I am thankful to my many friends in China and throughout Asia for welcoming me into your homes, educating me on different worldviews, and tolerating my broken Chinese. I lucked out in being sent to Taiwan 30 years ago and it has been a great experience ever since. Today I have friends all over the world, and I am grateful to all of you for shaping who I am today. Photo: A few of my very first friends and colleagues in Beijing who helped create a fantastic experience for me.                                                              
9. I am thankful for being a citizen of the diverse United States of America, and the freedoms we are offered. These freedoms have been afforded to us by the blood, sweat and tears of our forefathers. In advance of 2022, I am thankful to all those people on both sides of the political divide who are willing to understand each other and to work together to preserve the outstanding country we have. And I am hopeful our government representatives will begin to represent their constituencies, first and foremost, and put their partisan bullshit aside.                                         
10. Finally, I am thankful for people like Stephen Sondheim, the American Composer who shaped modern theater as we know it today. Sondheim passed away on November 26. Sondheim made the world more colorful through his musicals, and everything I read and heard about him reflects someone who was extremely generous with his talent. Sharing one of my favorite songs, “Send in the Clowns”, from the play A Little Night Music, sung by Bernadette Peters.

Thank you for being part of this community and for indulging me. I hope you have a great week ahead.